Introduction
Earlier this summer I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to create a Summer Series that would reach a wider audience for His glory and that would speak to the hearts and minds of others who need the same hope and comfort that I have received while going through the biopsy, tests, scans, evaluation, surgery, and the recovery process, along with the follow-up visits and more regularly scheduled scans (more in the first year, and then annually for 5 years) for tongue cancer. This is a Scriptural principle,
“Praise to the God of All Comfort: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God,”
(1 Corinthians 1: 3-4, NIV).The series is designed to share my recent testimony, and through it, to encourage others to grow in their faith and become excited about sharing their current testimonies, too. Why? Because Jesus is the Living Word, and our testimony should reflect that living, growing, and deepening of our faith versus only focusing on when we initially got saved. That's good, but how long ago was that? What's God doing in our lives today? Remember that Paul admonished the Church at Corinth, “1Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly-mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it, (1 Corinthians 3:1-2, NIV). The truth is that sometimes we get busy or distracted and may not realize that we are ready for the next step in our spiritual growth—meat to chew on! In the post-surgery recovery period, I have had to learn how to move from ‘milk’ (nutritional drinks) to ‘soft foods’ (anything that turns to mush when I squeeze it between my finger and thumb), to meat. Even chewing meat is happening in stages (e.g., soft, tinned/canned meat, such as fish or chicken; to minced-type meat, such as chicken nuggets, to now eating very small pieces of chicken or hamburger meat). The process that Paul is describing is one that we all go through in life, beginning as newborns drinking milk and progressing through different stages until we are mature enough to handle meatier fare. This is the perfect analogy of how we grow spiritually, too. Thus, as I’ve been praying about this series, there have been many ideas swirling in my heart and mind. I have formulated an outline; and the series, “I Love to Tell the Story”, is tentatively scheduled for 10 weeks, which includes the introduction and the conclusion. The posts will be on Saturdays, beginning this Saturday, July 21st/18 and concluding on September 23rd/18, which is the first day of autumn.
I hope that you will join me for this 2018 Summer Series: I Love to Tell the Story. As we explore the miraculous ways that God is still working in our lives today, I pray that you will also receive assurance and affirmation of God’s love and presence in your life. Together, let us stir up our faith, to fan it into a burning flame (2 Timothy 1:6t).
Blessings & Peace
Former Salvation Army Officer (pastor), Canada
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